Absolute Moral Authority

I keel you!

Time for the first edition of the Absolute Moral Authority Name That Superhero Contest!

This is the one and only Michael from Innocent Bystanders, the blog where there is no blogging — just commenting. Oops, I gave away his secret indentity. Oh well, I’m sure it won’t take the police too long to figure out who he is if they catch him running around town in that outfit trying to ‘rescue’ people.

Michael fancies himself a spindly legged Batman, but since that name is already taken I thought it would be nice if the legion* who visit Absolute Moral Authority could help him choose an identity.

So, help a super fella out and come up with a super duper moniker for our musically inclined hero.

The winner will receive a $4.98 gift certificate to Maid-Rite whenever I get around to it.

Bonus question — who shall be his Robin? And, will it hurt?

*legion = 4 1/2 gomers

Image courtesy of Geoff at Uncommon Misconceptions.

Update: Ok, lot’s of you are checking out this post but are not entering a comment. If you don’t play — you can’t win. If your reason for not commenting is fear of reprisal from Michael (he’s really mean, I know), make up a name and put your real moniker (that’s your nick, WickedPinto) in the email address box. I’ll figure it out from there.

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Dye spill had I-495 drivers seeing red

A truck hauling dye had a little oopsie near Littleton, MA. Kinda cool looking, though.

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Elections official: State rep’s failure to file finance reports created problem

LANSING — A state elections official testified today that the failure by Detroit Representative George Cushingberry to file his campaign finance reports on time in 2004 prevented his office from doing its job.

Analyst Peter Allegrina said delays in required campaign finance reports prevent the bureau from informing voters about a candidate’s sources of campaign funding.

Allegrina said if the reports are not filed the bureau also is not able to determine whether a candidate received campaign contributions exceeding limits under state law.

Cushingberry, a Democrat, is on trial in Ingham County Circuit Court. He’s charged with failing to file campaign finance reports in 2004, when he was elected to the legislature, and signing two affidavits that falsely stated he had filed the reports.

The most serious charges are felonies carrying penalties up to five years in prison and/or $1,000 fine.

If Cushingberry is found guilty it also could affect his ability to serve in the state legislature.

House members can expel a lawmaker who has been found guilty of a felony that constitutes a breach of public trust.

This version of the story leaves out some of the more interesting facts.

Cushingberry is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

He didn’t file ANY of the required disclosure statements in the year of his first election. He ignored over two dozen Election Bureau notices. He has failed to pay the fines resulting from not filing or filing late.

Democrat House members knew about the impending trial. So,what did they do about it? They made him chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. A man who neglected to file financial disclosure statements to a criminal level — let’s put him in charge of the committee that controls the state’s purse strings. It makes so much sense now that I think of it.

Not.

The Michigan constitution states that anyone convicted of a felony that amounts to a breach of public trust is disqualified from serving in the legislature. How much do you want to bet that House Democrats will fight tooth and nail to keep Cushingberry if he is convicted?

But, that’s business as usual in the Michigan Democrat Party. Cronyism and payoffs are just a normal part of a days work for the party of Granholm and the UAW.

The party of iPods and tax increases. What will they think of next?

Cushingberry for Attorney General wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

Posted by: mesablue at 08:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Not really. I can’t stand the little freak.

However, his sister Shayamali is smokin’ hot.

Reason #1 to keep Sanjaya on American Idol:

Yummy.

Tushar, got any sisters?

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Finally.

Someone has finally addressed the biggest problem in the world today:

Me.

This guy has friends.

There is even a music video.

Feel the love.

h/t Ace

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Pixy Misa is offering free sites at the new mee.nu blogging system for those who participate in the beta test.

After the beta, we’ll get to keep the sites forever.

Pixy created the mu.nu system that Ace and many other bloggers now use.

For the short term, I’ll use the beta site at moralauthority.mee.nu as a mirror for this site. It’s already pretty robust, but I’ll have to crank up my CSS and Java Script skills before I make a jump.

Go take a look at mee.nu and ask Pixy for a beta key if you’d like to participate.

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Hezbollah is rioting in Beirut. Over the last several weeks, Hezbollah had been camped out on the city center hoping to disrupt and take over the democratically elected government. Not content with the damage they caused to Lebanon when they attacked Israel and started a war, they have now thrown the country into near civil war.

Michael Totten just returned from Lebanon and has coverage.

Hezbollah Riots in Lebanon (Continuously Updated)

While I was in Lebanon gathering the material I’ve been publishing, Hezbollah kept threatening to strangle the country by seizing major roads, including the one that leads to the airport. I was worried I might get stuck there, but I didn’t. Today, though, they finally make good on their threat. Palestinian guerillas are reportedly helping.

Future TV and LBC say there are clashes between rioters and commuters. Cars, as well as tires, are burning.

Violence is spreading. Three people have been shot. Sunni and Shia Muslims fought each other with sticks, rocks, and automatic weapons in Southern Beirut. Violent clashes, often involving gunfire, are erupting elsewhere in the country as well.

Notice, also, that the violent clashes in the streets are mostly between Sunnis and Shia, not between Christians and Shia. This is, and was, entirely predictable. Those who think Hezbollah is a popular movement with the support of Lebanon’s Muslims as a whole should think again.

Take a close look at the methods of extremist Islam.

Will the world finally stand up and condemn Hezbollah as the terrorist organization that it is? I doubt it.

These are the same animals that blew up the US Marine barracks. Yet today, the MSM and lefties continously sugarcoat and spin the stories coming out of Lebanon. Reuters was caught sending photoshopped and staged pictures out to the major news outlets of the world.

Enough already.

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I love the look on this kids face.

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Michigan leads the nation in unemployment. We are facing a billion dollar deficit.

While the rest of the country enjoys a strong economy, Michigan is bleeding jobs and people.

So, what do Michigan democrats want to do about it? Well, the governor wants to raise our taxes and the democrats in the State House want to give every kid an iPod.

Yup, you read that correctly, they want to spend millions buying iPods.

From an appropriately titled editorial in The Detroit News:

An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?

We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

No cost estimate was attached to their hare-brained idea to “invest” in education. Details, we are promised, will follow.

The Democrats, led by their increasingly erratic speaker Andy Dillon of Redford Township, also pledge $100 million to make better downtowns.

Their plan goes beyond cluelessness. Democrats are either entirely indifferent to the idea that extreme hard times demand extreme belt tightening, or they are bone stupid. We lean toward the latter.

We say that because the House plan also keeps alive, again without specifics, the promise of tax hikes.

The range of options, according to Rep. Steve Tobocman, D-Detroit, includes raising the income tax, levying a 6 percent tax on some services, and taxing junk food and soda.

We wonder how financially strained Michigan residents will feel about paying higher taxes to buy someone else’s kid an iPod.

Lunacy.

Three more years. Just three more years, I keep telling myself, until my kids are out of school and I can leave this crazy place.

Also covered at Hot Air

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This is interesting. The ACLU is suing the town that I live in. They say that anti-war protestors rights have been violated because a few if them have been ticketed by the local police for causing a disturbance when they picket.

ACLU sues Ferndale over ‘no honking’ policy

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today against the city of Ferndale and its “no honking” policy for demonstrators.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges the city has arrested protesters who hold signs encouraging motorists to honk their horns as a sign of support. The city also has ticketed motorists who respond to the sign by honking, the lawsuit alleges.

“Holding up ‘honk’ signs and honking in support of sidewalk protests is a time-honored tradition that should be respected by Ferndale,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, in a news release.

“To censor the political speech of these protesters is to violate a fundamental right that has defined our society.”

A time honored tradition, huh? Where, Berkeley?

I drive by these losers every Monday and give them the old one finger salute. What the article is leaving out is the behavior of these “peace” protestors. Woodward Avenue is eight lanes wide at Nine Mile and has a large median running down the middle of it. For a couple of years, the protestors would cross Woodward and then block traffic for thirty seconds or so after the light had changed as they wobbled their way across the street, taking their time to make sure that they blocked as many people as possible on their way home during rush hour.

The cops told them to stop. They wouldn’t, so they got ticketed. After that, they would cross and then stop in the median waving signs at traffic from both sides of the road causing a mess as people tried to make sure that they didn’t get hippie juice on their cars by accidentally hitting one of the stragglers.

Again, it caused traffic backups during rush hour. One, where I was rear ended by some little old lady who was honking her support for the scum bags. Her loss, as I drive a big Dodge SUV. She didn’t seem to have any remorse or care that she ran into someone while honking for hippies. I let her go, but called the police to complain about the situation. They came out and chased the patchouli odored group back to the side of the street. Several hippies created a big fuss and their signs were taken and they were ticketed.

I really hope that I played some small part in bringing this to a head.

The ACLU has no chance in this one. Ferndale is the most tolerant suburb in the Detroit area. There is a large gay and lesbian community — their new community center downtown was just completed. It is an area of many art galleries and small shops and restaurants. Coffee houses and an actual tea shop for flower children to get their daily potion. In other words, not an area that shuts down freedom of expression or is foreign to tolerating the views of a wide range of different groups that run a little outside of the social norm.

Ferndale’s side was not told in the article. Big surprise.

The protestors were ticketed for repeatedly causing a disturbance and then when warned, to blatently ignore police requests to stop blocking traffic.

This has been going on for a while. For the past several months the hippie crowd has stayed on one corner, I’m guessing until this lawsuit came out.

They are a sad little group. Aging hipsters, young malcontents, a few fake veterans (guy had USMC and Army logos and didn’t know his rank) and a couple of angry, militant lesbians.

They’re gonna lose the lawsuit if Ferndale doesn’t buckle under.

I hope these folks keep up their little protest. They do a great job of showing the people driving by what kind of weirdos are behind the anti-troops movement.

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I Barfed on it.

Really.

Barf is made by the Paxan Corporation of Iran. If Barfing on your clothes is not enough, they also market Barf shampoo. You can happily spread Barf all over your head.

Found by way of a guy who only has to sit on a beach all day and search for interesting things like this — Bullwinkle.

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